Up at 7 o’clock. Rained heavily all morning and nothing done. Wrote to Ranald MacDonald and a letter home.
The Number 9s1 gave a concert in a little hut near the village. Pretty good and a good audience of the mayor, brigadier and all sorts.
The Number 9s (assuming as always that the transcription is correct) were presumably a Forces concert party (and if so, presumably based on some medical unit). ↩
Up about 7 o’clock. Cleaned up stuff in the panniers until about dinnertime. Went up for a bath before dinner. Worked an hour or so in the afternoon. Went out with John Dory at night. It rained heavily and compelled us to return. Had long talk up the river side. Had some eggs in the farmhouse last thing.
Received letter from Ranald MacDonald saying that he is in hospital at Boulogne slightly gassed.
Up at about 7 o’clock. On fatigue in the morning. Pay parade at 11 o’clock. Box respirator1 and clothes inspection at 2 o’clock. A few chaps drunk on parade and got into trouble for it. Lovely day. Had walk with Dory at night on to the top of the ridge. Had eggs for supper at the farm house.
A box respirator was a kind of gas mask using a two-piece design with a mouthpiece connected via a hose to a box filter. Two types of box respirator were used, the large box respirator (LBR), which was ultimately deemed too bulky for use by infantry, and the small box respirator (SBR). It is unclear which type of box respirator was issued to ALL although it seems likely to have been the SBR which would have been more suited for use by stretcher bearers in trenches. See also Chemical Weapons in World War I at Wikipedia. ↩
Up at 7 o’clock. Paraded first thing and did a few fatigues. Lovely day. Had a bath in a mill pond in the afternoon. Had a walk with Ike Taylor and Harry Bascombe on to the ridge.
Arrived at Lumbres1 about 2.30. Raining and dark. Lay in the trees and slept for about an hour. Woke with the cold and tried to get some coffee but failed. Marched off about 6 o’clock and arrived at our destination about noon. Had breakfast on the way. Rained heavily several times on the way and we were fed up and pretty dejected when we arrived. Slept during the afternoon and immediately after it the S W B’s2 took over our billet and we had to go further up the village. I moved again into a guard room sort of place and we got some straw and had softer† beds.
Name of the village is Nielle-le-Blequin3.
Up at 7 o’clock and on parade at 8 o’clock. Did nothing in the afternoon. Holman and Harvey going on leave and are to stay behind in the camp. Moved off about 6 o’clock and marched through Bailleul. Band played well in Bailleul. Entrained at the station and waited until 11 o’clock before we moved off. 44 of us in one cattle truck and no room to lie down or move about. Spent a most uncomfortable night.
Up at 6 o’clock and saw Captain Crawford off. Received quite a lot of money in tips. Gibbons fighting† drunk. Squad next up and marched back to Berthen1 at about 4.30, arrived about 6 o’clock. Slept in the receiving tent with Harry Bascombe and Ben Jenkins.
Berthen (B) about 7km NNW of Bailleul (A). ↩
Up about 7.15. Felt pretty rotten first thing. Kept busy all day. Wrote short letter home. Heard rumour that we were to move tomorrow.
Up at 7.15. Off in the afternoon and evening. Went to the Merry Mauves at night and it was pretty fair.
Up at about 7 o’clock. Kept busy all day. Off in the afternoon and went to the Church Army reading room and read two short stories from a magazine. On duty at night and did some French. Lay awake and talked to Freddie about churches and festivals of the church year.
Rumours of the Division going out and of the ambulance moving.
Although the diary is silent on the matter, 6th August 1917 was the day on which ALL’s Sheffield barracks friend, Ralph Kenyon Sandwith, was killed in action near Kemmel in Belgium.
The images here are of a postcard sized portrait of RKS which exists in ALL’s collection. The front is signed “Ralph K. Sandwith” and the back has an address in Louth, RKS’ home address presumably written by RKS himself, and a note in ALL’s hand about the date of the photograph (1915) and the circumstances of Sandwith’s death (at Kemmel in 1917). Private Sandwith was about 21 years old at the time of his death, and 19 years old at the time of the photograph.
See also all diary entries tagged “Sandwith” and Ralph Kenyon Sandwith at Lives of the First World War.
